Pretty straightforward question. My mainline track(s) descend to grade level to reach yards. I use thin cork sheets to transition from road bed to plywood surface. I am specifically interested in where the mainline ballast ends as the track(s) off the mainline transition into the grade level yards.
I am including some photos of these transition areas.
The following photo shows the transition of mainline tracks into the passenger station lead tracks. I have ended the mainline ballast where the transition cork sheets end at grade level.
The next two photos show the mainline transitioning into the coach yard and freight yard.
The last photo shows the entry and exit tracks into and out of the engine servicing facility. You can see the cork transition sheets descending to grade level.
Any suggestions or insights would be most appreciated.
I worked in the Collinwood yard on the East side of Cleveland. I can tell you first hand that there was no ballast. If there were it was sunk in the mud decades earlier. There were many broken pallets to try to keep your boots from sinking in the muck.
What I have done was paint the yards first and sparsely sprinkle some mainline ballast in with a lot of sand in my case due to the railroad being on the south shore of Massachusetts.
I should have mentioned that while I used HO scale ballast for the mainlines, my plan is to use N scale ballast for the yards, so the yard ballast, as I refer to it, will be a very fine grade.
So, really, my question is, where does the mainline ballast end?
I would use a thin layer of plaster to build up between tracks, and if you’re bold, between the rails of tracks. I’d tint the plaster with Burnt Umber. Then I’d liberally sprinkle the top of the groomed plaster, while its still setting up, with N Scale ‘cinders’.
Rich, how about where the speed changes from yard to open/main. A train is obliged to enter the yard-proper at a reduced and strict speed limit, I believe. At that point, little is needed in high ballast and finely leveled tracks that you’d have to have on the main. Once you’re near the arrival/departure, and heading toward ladders, it would all be mud 'n crud.
The link to the following shows the Albury in Australia rail yard entrance where you can see a transition from mainline ballast to a much finer ballast in the track to the right which was throughout the yard by the time it reached the station area.
The transition would not be so much from one scale ballast to a smaller scale one (unless you are going from O to N) but from an HO scale ballast to a grout to represent what was in that yard.
The ballast transition varies greatly by location. I’ve selected yards familiar to me for examples.
Above is UP’s yard in Riverdale, UT http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1599230 . There are two main tracks near the top in this view, and a third is the track nearest the bottom. Where an edge can be seen, especially toward the right side of the image, it isn’t particularly distinct. Also note the variations in ballast color within the yard, and the amount of spilled lading and locomotive sand.
The main tracks are near the center of this view of the old SP yard a couple miles away from UP’s above (there’s another smaller yard off to the right) http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=5223042. Again note the lack of an abrupt transition between ballast types, and the variety of ballast in use on the yard tracks. There’s ballast that looks to have received little attention for years, adjacent to brand new ballast that was just dumped in place.
I’ve seen too many layouts where the modeler tried to create a hard edge where mainline and yard ballast meet. There are a few spots in these photos where the transition is sharper than others, but it varies within
All my “yards” are staging yards, so none of the track is ballasted and the rails and ties aren’t painted, either.
Where tracks leave the mainline at servicing areas or to access industries, the ballast generally ends once the rails leave the mainline, as in the photos below…
I’ll be doing some of the industrial sidings on the upper level using only real dirt and static grass.
Yeah, that is the conclusion that I am coming to as well. In other words, don’t extend the mainline ballast onto the divergent side of the turnout that is leaving the mainline except to the extent that it is needed to maintain a line of ballast parallel to the straight through route of the turnout.
At the east end of my Lakeview yard, the mainline ballast blends with the rest somewhere around the turnouts. The transition occurs within the crossover into the yard in the foreground, and farther down the industry spur behind it.
On the west end, it again blends within a crossover. Note the ballast here is of a different color and texture than what’s on the east end, and there are at least three types within the yard.
At my Junction City yard, the main and yard ballast sort of mix with each other for some distance. Some of the yard tracks have a brownish color, while others have been more recently maintained with a medium gray.
Great photos and great work, Rob. I took a look at a lot of photos on your Flickr account to get even more ideas for yard ballasting. Your choice of colors is outstanding!
The safety factor would come into play. Places with foot traffic would be cleared of tripping hazards, meaning no rocks. If the diverging switches were hand thrown then a clear path would be needed. Asphalt and concrete in yards are the modern day norms. Steam days cinder and ash around walking paths were common. Slag from the steel mills also could be found. Mills would give it away on a come and take it deal. My uncle who worked at USS used a small front shovel to load cars (hopper, gons, and even flats.) For the railroads to haul away. Back in the sixties my garage floor and driveway was cinder. Just don’t fall on it. The stuff really cut you up good. Then again the dirt road was spayed with that pungent oil two or more times a year. No wonder we all have cancer now.
This gets to a question I’ve been meaning to ask for some time. When the mainline tracks pass through the yard, either on one side or down the middle if there are ladders on either side, are trains restricted to yard speed limits, or can they pass through without slowing down?
Thanks Rob, the #8 crossover does look like a frog formed of stock rail which is consistant with Walthers/Shinohara. Micro have a cast frog if I recall.
In some (many?) cases, the mainline tracks go around the yard, not through it, so I would think it wouldn’t be unusual for the mainline to be ballasted while the yard tracks are just dirt and such.
Not sure if this link to Google Maps will work, but if it does, the two tracks nearest Highway 10/61 are the joint BNSF-CP mainline tracks, which go around their railyards to the north and west along the tracks. You can see the mainline appears to have gray rock ballast while the yard tracks (this is the old Milwaukee Road hump yard) don’t.
Color photos taken from the ground are so much better than aerial Google Images. I have tried to look at railroad yards around Chicago on Google Images and everything looks white and light gray.
